Question.2141 - Detailed rhetorical analysis of Rocky Balbao’s inspirational speech
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Detailed rhetorical analysis of Rocky Balbao’s inspirational speech The inspirational speech of "Rocky Balboa" was basically for his son. He starts his speech by accepting his love for his son, from the time he was born till today. He goes into the memories and remembers how small he was during his birth and the way he would carry him in his arms. He also remembered the days when he used to keep telling his wife about having the best son in the world. (Oosthuizen;2023) After giving an insight about his son he shared some harsh truths about his life and the world in which everyone lives. He explained the ways to take care of things. His was a very informative speech. In his speech, he taught him to deal with the consequences that will follow. Through his speech, he inspires and even motivates his son to fight for his wants, no matter the number of times he gets pushed down and is demotivated by others. His speech teaches him to be the same ever and for all. He shares that the world likes others to fail but the failures should not worry and should not be unhappy. Instead, they should keep trying and that will help them to succeed. Through his speech, he provided his son with a few pieces of advice that were the facts of his life. He tried putting in some points so that he could overcome the pain he had grown up with. He even asked him to give his best in his way rather than comparing himself with his father. When Rocky starts with his speech, his tone seems to be a bit harsh as he wanted to be very clear with his points. But, he softens his tone by the end of his speech as he did not want his son to feel that he was being tough on him. He only wanted his son to know that he understands his son and is aware of his thought process. (Hagy;2015) Rocky's speech was based on logic. In his speech, he stated that everyone on earth goes through tough times and this is what his son needs to understand. It was obvious that the difficulty can be faced at work or in life, in general. Rocky was able to understand that his son was sad to date due to his mother’s death long back and also because he was facing difficulty at work. He even had the feeling of being useless. And so he lost his faith in himself. Thus through his speech, Rocky tried to lift his son's hopes and wanted to help him gain confidence in himself again. This is because he did not like to see his son struggling at this limit as a father. Further, he stated that each individual is responsible for his actions. No one else can be blamed for one’s fault. Making excuses and not taking responsibility is not the solution. According to him, it is an easy way out to blame one's mistakes on others. Those people who can shoulder the responsibility for one’s mistakes can correct them easily and overcome them also at the earliest. Such people do not believe in accusing others of their own mistakes. Rather they prevent themselves from repeating the same mistakes or by doing some other mistake. He tells his audience that as none of them are cowards so they including his son should not point out their mistakes to others. Instead, they all should face it and fix it. Pathos affects the emotions of the audience. It is found throughout his whole speech. Rocky tries to convince his son that no one can push him down and demotivate him unless he gives them a chance to do so. Through his emotional speech, he tries to inspire and motivate both the audience and his son. (Payne;2018) Ethos is one such factor through which the speaker proves his credibility. Rocky through his speech tells his son that he is always available for him. He even says that he is always willing to listen to him. He can feel that his son thinks that whatever he has achieved in life is because of his father. This is the reason his son was losing his self-confidence. Thus he wanted him to have faith in himself and move forward. This is the ethos factor in the film. (Payne;2018) Rocky had started his speech to inspire all individuals and he ended his speech too with the sense of motivating the individuals. He wanted everyone present to work for the best and get the best in life. In his speech, he uses rhetorical devices to show that his son has lost himself in the crowd by listening to them rather than himself. He tried explaining to his son that unlike others his son is also facing difficulties in life which he with his strength needs to overcome. He even tried explaining to him that there will be those people around who will be in support of him and want to see him succeed and those who will wish for his failure. In his speech, Rocky is found using you a maximum number of times. This makes the audience feels that they are spoken about. It even lays an emotional impact throughout the whole speech. From time to time he changes his tone to display frustration and acceptance. He captures the heart of his audience with his inspiring speech. He continuously keeps reminding his audience to work hard and reach success and also be truthful people in their life. Rocky, in his speech, emphasizes accepting personal responsibility. He says that many a time, things do not work according to the plans but that does not mean that others will be held responsible for this. Blaming others means giving excuses, which is wrong. This is the easiest way out to blame others in difficult situations. Instead, people should take responsibility for their mistakes and be ready to face the outcomes. And they should not accuse others of their wrong actions. Instead, they should prepare themselves for the future and make it a point to not repeat the same mistake further. Accepting mistakes strengthens the sense of personal responsibility and even helps to gain reliability and trust.(Mathers;2019) He emphasizes Resilience. He explains that being happy is the best way to keep away the stress and that only helps to cope with it. It is persistence, which helps to handle hardships. It works wonders more than being knowledgeable and being trained. Strength helps to face the unexpected changes caused due to hardships and attain success, It is resilience alone which helps to overcome failure, thus getting growth opportunities. But personal experiences aid to be more resilient. When one can cope with stresses at an early age comes out to be an excellent experienced adult. But then it is important to give confidence from an early stage of life so that resilience is seen as an adult. To be more persistent it is important to become a good problem solver during times of issues as such changes lead to growth and gives the ability to respond to stress. Thus looking at unfavorable situations with a different attitude demonstrates resilience. Ultimately patience is the key to success. .(Mathers;2019) He insists everyone believes in themselves. As that is the important factor that will aid in putting in the effort. And the effort will lead to success, which gives the confidence to undertake challenges and complete them too. He states that others can help one in their challenges but for that one has to have faith in oneself in the first place then the world will believe in the individual. To have faith in oneself, the best way is to set goals and work to achieve them. To achieve the goals one has to leave one's comfort zone, to cope with the challenges. And this will go on and on. If the goals are of a higher level then they need to be accomplished in parts because achieving the set aim in parts will help to move ahead confidently. This motivation will maintain the desire, the wish to get hold and reach the nearest to the set objective in life. .(Mathers;2019) He says that being true to oneself is also important as it is the most difficult path. This is because it is always easy to follow others rather than make your path. But then only the success that has been achieved by being true to oneself and by sticking to owns own values lays more importance rather than those which have been achieved by following others. To be successful for a longer period and to be remembered by more people, it is important to follow the path created by one. Being true is challenging but is even respected by one and all. When someone tries to know the reason for the success of others rather than finding one’s way, then the individual does not mean to pay respect to one’s values. The individual humiliates himself so the world will do the same. So the key factor is to focus on one’s ideas. To get hold of the set goals it is important to decide upon the result and to achieve the desired result. To do so, one has to overcome one's weaknesses and find the strengths. This will help to succeed in overcoming the failure. .(Mathers;2019) Rocky asks his audience not to be weak as weak people are most harmed. And to harm an individual, the person is reminded of the weaknesses; mistakes made in the past and can also be threatened. Being weak keeps one away from success. Each person’s weakness can either be helpful or can hurt someone. But one should take care not to hide one's weaknesses as that can even pave the way to success. The benefit of not hiding one's weakness is getting connected to people on a different scale through which the means to collaborate with more people increases thus increasing productivity. .(Mathers;2019) At last, it is the inspirational videos of Rocky that help to achieve his goal set in life. The important part of his speech is to learn how to start applying the principles in the right way, to improve one’s situation. Then only one can find the way to success and get to know ones worth. References Mathers, C. (2022a) 5 motivational lessons from the Rocky Balboa speech to his son, Develop Good Habits. Available at: https://www.developgoodhabits.com/rocky-balboa-speech/ (Accessed: 02 July 2023). Oosthuizen, M. (2023) The most inspirational Rocky Balboa speech has changed the lives of many, Fortress of Solitude. Available at: https://www.fortressofsolitude.co.za/lesson-rocky-balboa-changed-the-lives-of-many/ (Accessed: 02 July 2023). Rhetorical analysis of Rocky Balboa (2006) (no date) prezi.com. Available at: https://prezi.com/p/hnsz8isa4fo1/rhetorical-analysis-of-rocky-balboa-2006/ (Accessed: 02 July 2023). Rocky Balboa speech analysis (no date a) Bartleby. Available at: https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Rocky-Balboa-Speech-Analysis-PKJS46CYC9P (Accessed: 02 July 2023). Wcs (2020) Rocky Balboa speech - 5 life lessons, Wild Child Sports. Available at: https://wildchildsports.com/rocky-balboa-speech-5-life-lessons/ (Accessed: 28 June 2023).More Articles From Literature